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'Frankie' Reveals the Price of Beauty

An honest look at the world of modelling, through the eyes of a former model. “We need to transform her completely.” She’s got marks under her eyes.” “No, no, the hands d...

An honest look at the world of modelling, through the eyes of a former model.

“We need to transform her completely.” She’s got marks under her eyes.” “No, no, the hands don’t look nice.” She’s too fat, we wanted an angel, not a cherub.”

For most, it unimaginable to endure such abuse in our daily working lives, but then again, most of us are not models. Frankie, the debut feature by director/writer/cinematographer Fabienne Berthaud, stars model-turned-actress Diane Kruger as the vulnerable, waiflike Frankie.

Looking for all the world like a fallen angel, Frankie’s drifts through the halls and fields of the group home where she now lives. Her story, told in flashbacks, reveals the harsh and lonely life of a model, and eventually tells how she came to such a desperate state.

The beauty industry is anything but beautiful, and we watch as Frankie goes from auditions where she is ridiculed, to photo shoots where she is degraded, to the bare and empty hotel room where she lives. It’s an ugly world that Frankie inhabits, but it is lent a painterly beauty by Berthaud’s composed cinematography, and a fitting delicacy by the music of Coco Rosie.

Both Diane Kruger and Fabienne Berthaud will be in attendance for a brief Q & A at tomorrows’ screening of Frankie.

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